The Human Element
by BiblioMatsuri
Summary: A series of Naruto oneshots. Genres and characters apply only to latest chapter. Currently posted: Eyes. Character studies of Team Seven. (Sort of.)


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

BGM: "Empty Eyes" by Within Temptation.

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Eyes

Sky and the Maelstrom

Naruto's eyes don't lie. Disappointment, hunger, sorrow, hope, satisfaction, glee, anger and mischief, and that never-ending relief of understanding, of knowing that there is someone like him, that he is not alone, that he is not suffering alone. Like Kushina, he feels so deeply that shutting away his emotions would leave him with no place to hide from the village where he does not belong. Like Minato, he is always planning something, whether it is as innocent as getting someone else to pay for Ichiraku's ramen or as sneaky as how best to discredit that jackass of a store-keeper who sold him spoiled meat last week. The villagers, civilian and shinobi alike, look at him from a distance and see the death of their loved ones. Jiraiya understood his need to be acknowledged, to be more than just the dead-last, but he did not see that Naruto would not forget what the village had done to him. Tsunade saw his willpower, his determination to protect his loved ones no matter what, but she did not see that Naruto would not admit the reality of betrayal. Kakashi only ever sees his parents' ghosts. The Third Hokage had responsibilities, a family of his own, so he absently accepted the boy's bluster and never looked past the clownish laughter. He was only a child, after all. In his madness, Sasuke refused to see that Naruto was more than the overcoming of pain. Sakura sees her own greatest weakness replayed, that need to be acknowledged mutating into pride and bluster and attention-seeking, and wishes she had seen just a bit sooner. Naruto refuses to keep mirrors in his apartment. His eyes don't lie. He just doesn't want to know.

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Smoke and the Shinobi

Sasuke's eyes are broken, but of all things, he won't let that show. Since long before Madara's fateful bargain with the Senju, one of the first lessons any Uchiha learned was to show no emotion. Fugaku and Mikoto had learned this well, one perpetually scowling to hide his rage, the other perpetually smiling to hide her bitter tears. Obito knew this lesson, of course, but he'd never seen the point, not until he'd gone mad himself. Then he learned for the same reason Madara had taught himself, so that he could hide his diseased mind well enough to fool others into trusting him. Itachi had two reasons, the first a growing self-hate at how easily he killed, at how good it felt to watch a life slip away, his blade and hands running Sharingan red. The other was even simpler. If no one could see his emotions, perhaps they would not notice that they had slipped away at some point. Sasuke never learned. Before That Day, his eyes were clear as dark glass, disappointment and adoration and a sense of my-big-brother-can-beat-up-your-big-brother entitlement. After That Day, disdain and scorn for all the pathetic crawling worms whose company he was forced to suffer filled his mind so thoroughly in daylight hours that he didn't see any need to hide. Alone at night, rage and hatred devoured his grief and betrayed tears until there were none left. Sasuke keeps a large mirror in his room, as he can't be bothered to get rid of it. It doesn't matter, since he never looks.

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Jade and the Cherry Blossom

Sakura's eyes are the last thing people notice about her. Strangers see the bright, cotton-candy pink hair. How strange, they think, is that natural? Comrades see the wide forehead, her hitai-ate worn as a hair ribbon, a sleeveless vest and a split skirt over shorts. Kunoichi, they think, good old reliable Sakura, she'll fix us right up! Enemies see nothing, choking on dust and dodging flying debris, dropping swiftly and, as her mission and mood allow, relatively painlessly. There's no time to think. Tsunade thinks back to that day, when a pair of pained pale green eyes met hers in a demand just short of a plea for help. Kakashi sees his cute little student, all grown up, and wonders when it happened with him just across the village the whole time. Naruto sees her triumph, her defeat, and the unfading edge of bitterness, and thinks back to the day he first noticed her. Thin and shaky, a leaf trembling on the edge of a twig, about to fall. For a moment, their eyes had met, and across a schoolyard, the village scapegoat and a girl with a happy family to go back to were in perfect agreement. Sakura sees her eyes in the mirror, and thinks "I can do better." Always better, always reaching higher, always learning something else, so that one day she can surpass even true genius. Yes, she wants to help, she wants to save everyone, but that little voice at the back of her mind knows what she really wants. Sakura wants to be the greatest medic-nin that ever lived. This much, she can do. Sakura really wants to fix all the broken things in the world, but the greatest difference between Sakura and her old teammates is that she knew from the start her dream was impossible.

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A/N: I had a few sentences stuck in my head. They turned into this. Please R&R.


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